• Boxscore & Play-by-Play

SEATTLE – A pair of big men have been an imposing presence all season on the Seattle Pacific men's basketball roster. Saturday they made their presence felt the court.

Andy Poling scored 19 points, including five that capped the decisive 16-point second-half run for the Falcons in an 84-67 Great Northwest Athletic Conference victory over Northwest Nazarene at Brougham Pavilion.

Poling, a 6-foot-11 sophomore center from Portland, Ore., joined the Falcons this season after spending two years at Gonzaga. Another NCAA Division I transfer, 6-foot-10 junior Modou Niang from Utah State, was also added to the roster in the off-season to form the tallest tandem in SPU history.

Prior to Saturday they had alternated in the post, never playing together.

"We experimented a little bit, playing the two big fellas together and they did a nice job, especially on the defensive end," said SPU coach Ryan Looney.

"I finally just made the decision, because Moe's been playing so well in short spurts and practice, to try to play the two bigs together. They were really good tonight."

The Falcons twin towers accounted for 30 points and 14 rebounds, their best combined output in both categories this season.

Niang posted season highs with 11 points and nine rebounds, helping the Falcons out-board NNU 31-24.

SPU (9-5) halted a two-game losing streak and evened its conference record at 3-3.

The Crusaders (6-8) dropped to 2-5 in GNAC play. They went without a basket for over seven minutes in the second half, between a layup by Darious Walker at 14:02 and a 3-pointer by Joey Wayman at 6:38.

After Anthony Golden made the second of two free throws to bring the Crusaders within 55-50 with 12:36 left to play, they were scoreless for the next six minutes.

The Falcons capitalized on their opponent's drought with 16 straight points to extend their lead to 71-50 and gain control. NNU never got closer than 13 points the rest of the way.



SPU senior Jeff Downs scored 15 points and sophomore teammate Scott Morse added a career-high 14. Morse hit all five of his shots, including four 3-pointers, and also grabbed eight rebounds.

"I like shooting the three for sure, I'm definitely more of a shooting wing," said Morse. "We need people to step up, like myself and a lot of other guys. We lost Chris (Banchero), who was probably about 40 percent of our scoring, so we're just trying to fill in for him right now."

The Falcons were playing their third game without Banchero, an All-America point guard whose collegiate career was ended by a knee injury suffered Jan. 6 at Alaska Fairbanks. Banchero (Seattle, Wash./O'Dea HS), the 2010 GNAC Player of the Year, was averaging 24.0 points and 5.6 assists per game.

Banchero's replacement, freshman David Downs, had eight points and eight assists Saturday. The Falcons were credited with 27 assists on their 33 field goals.

Golden paced the Crusaders with 19 points, all but one of them coming on six 3-pointers. Jamie Eisinger was NNU's only other double-figure scorer with 16 points.

The Falcons shot 61 percent from the field (33 of 54) and made 11 of 22 shots from 3-point range.

NNU also made 11 of 22 treys, but shot just 41 percent overall (21 of 51).

SPU hit 12 of its first 15 shots to build a 15-point lead. Ryan Sweet made the second of back-to-back layups to provide a 28-13 advantage with 6:55 left in the first half.

Sweet played a part in 18 of the first 28 SPU points, scoring six and distributing five assists in the opening 13 minutes. He finished with 10 points.

The Crusaders outscored SPU 23-8 over the next six minutes. They capped the run with 14 consecutive points, including nine from Golden, to tie the game at 36-36 with 55 seconds on the clock.

Poling, who had 10 first-half points, hit an eight-foot jumper with 17 seconds remaining to give the Falcons a 38-36 halftime edge.

The SPU men remain at home for their next three games, beginning on Thursday, Jan. 20 against Simon Fraser. Tip-off is 7:30 p.m. at Brougham Pavilion as the nightcap of a doubleheader with the Falcons women, who host Saint Martin's at 5:15 p.m.



NCAA Men's Basketball
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.

SEATTLE PACIFIC 84, NORTHWEST NAZARENE 67

NORTHWEST NAZARENE (6-8, 2-5 GNAC)
Golden 6-11 1-2 19, J. Eisinger 7-10 0-0 16, Walker 2-3 4-6 8, Barkdoll 2-3 3-4 7, D. Eisinger 2-10 0-0 5, Wayman 1-4 2-2 5, Blair 1-3 0-0 3, Egwuonwu 0-4 2-2 2, Williams 0-3 2-2 2, Rima 0-0 0-0 0, Shula 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-51 14-18 67.

SEATTLE PACIFIC (9-5, 3-3 GNAC)
Poling 9-13 1-6 19, J. Downs 5-12 1-1 15, Morse 5-5 0-0 14, Niang 4-5 3-4 11, Sweet 5-7 0-0 10, D. Downs 2-5 2-2 8, Dorman 1-4 0-0 3, Carel 1-1 0-0 2, Anderson 1-1 0-0 2, Hope 0-0 0-0 0, Moll 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 33-54 7-13 84.

Halftime – SPU 38, NNU 36.

3-point goals--NNU 11-22 (Golden 6-9, J. Eisinger 2-2, D. Eisinger 1-6, Wayman 1-2, Blair 1-3), SPU 11-22 (J. Downs 4-10, Morse 4-4, D. Downs 2-3, Dorman 1-4, Sweet 0-1). Fouled out--NNU-None, SPU-None. Rebounds--NNU 24 (Egwuonwu 5, Barkdoll 5), SPU 31 (Niang 9). Assists--NNU 11 (J. Eisinger 4, Wayman 4), SPU 27 (D. Downs 8). Total fouls--NNU 14, SPU 13. Technical fouls--NNU-None, SPU-None. Att.-578.